Doctor Feel Good
by Blackbirdox
Summary: While Charlie Dalton excels at his career as a pediatrician, his personal life remains a mess. Until he meets one certain special patient and his mother, that is.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Yeah. It's still not mine.**

**A/N: This is something that I like to call Cham and it's written for my loverly, Corky Conlon-Cook. :) She gives me the best ideas and when she mentioned that she'd like to see Charlie as a pediatrician, I knew I had to write it for her. Who doesn't like doctor Charlie? I hope the rest of you can enjoy it just as much as I know she will!  
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As soon as he wakes up, Charlie can tell it's going to be a good day. It's Saturday, and Saturdays are always his short days at the office. He only has to work from eight to eleven before his father comes in and takes over the practice for the rest of the day, handling all the end of the week paperwork and organization that Charlie had never been particularly good at.

Saturdays tend to be reserved for checkups only. They're meant to be lazy days, something the practice usually doesn't see during the rest of the week. Weekdays are always hectic. _Always._

So when Charlie strolls into the building, fifteen minutes late with his coffee in hand, he's glad to see a relatively empty waiting room. Its split into two sides- a sick and a well side- and most everyone seems to be seated in the well section. There's a family off to the right with twins with matching runny noses but other than that, all the kids have bright and smiling faces and none of the parents seem all that disgruntled or worn out.

It's definitely going to be a good day.

He slides his sunglasses onto the top of his head and sends a playful wink to his Valerie at the front desk as he leans over her to grab his stack of charts. "Is everything going okay so far?"

Valerie nods and finishes adding her signature to a note that gives little Jimmy Dawson permission to return to school on Monday- free of the flu or any other contractible illness. "So far so good. Jimmy's mom here was comfortable enough to let nurse Evelyn do his follow up since _someone_ wasn't here on time but everyone else is all yours."

"Sounds like a plan." Charlie ducks down to press a kiss to her cheek, making her giggle and smack his chest with a file as she swivels around in her chair.

"Get to work. You're holding everyone up."

Charlie gives her a mock salute before he turns and grabs his lab coat off the hook behind the desk. He stops to adjust his tie once he pulls his coat on, taking a moment to smooth back his hair. "Ladies? How do I look?"

He gets a chorus of groans from the members of his staff and one heavily disapproving eye roll from one of the mothers in the waiting room. "Just dashing," Valerie replies with her own subsequent eye roll. "Now will you please just do your job? I'd like to get out of here on time today."

"Why? Have a hot date?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Charlie snickers to himself as he pulls out his first chart of the day, ducking his head out to call on his patient. "Sam?"


	2. Chapter 2

Just shy of three months old, Samuel James Parker weighs approximately 13 pounds and measures out to 24 inches even. He's a cute little thing, chubby and smiley like all babies should be, with blue eyes and an already unruly tuft of dark hair on the top of his head.

He's a transfer from Dr. Perry's office downtown, according to his chart, and was brought in by his mother Camille for his twelve week checkup. Little Samuel is Charlie's favorite kind of patient- young and healthy and not yet old enough to have really formed any significant bonds outside of his family. There's no attachment issues stemming from past doctors and with any luck, all Charlie will get out of the baby is a few tears rather than a full blown temper tantrum.

When he steps into the room, Sam gurgles and does a little wiggle inside of his carrier, slamming his tiny fits onto his legs.

Charlie chuckles to himself and places his file down on the counter of the sink. "Hey buddy," he says as he reaches over to ruffle Sam's hair with one hand and extends the other out to the woman he assumes is Camille.

He gives her his best smile as he does a subtle look over and almost immediately tucks her away in his mental file of MILFs. _Great_ legs. "I'm Charlie."

She raises a delicate eyebrow as she takes his hand, giving it a small shake. "Not doctor?"

"People call my father doctor. Charlie's just fine for me."

"Hm," she mummers, pursing her lips together. It takes her a moment, but once she seems to have finished sizing him up and deems him acceptable, she smiles. "Well, you can call me Cam."

Charlie chuckles as he steps over to the sink to wash his hands and sterilize his stethoscope with an antiseptic wipe. "Sam and Cam. That's cute."

Color rises in Cam's cheeks as she pulls her son out of his carrier, hoisting him up onto her hip. "I didn't realize it until after I'd name him. I probably should have given that a little more thought." When Sam lets out a little whine, she leans down to brush her lips against his forehead. "Sorry. He's a bit fussy today. I had to wake him up from his nap."

"Nah, don't worry about it," Charlie replies as he sits on his stool and wheels his way over to the examination table. "Fussy babies are sort of par for the course around here. You can just lay him down there."

With a little finagling, Cam manages to get Sam settled and hops up on the table to hold him in place. "Like this?"

"Perfect." Charlie opens his file and unclips his pen from his shirt pocket, pulling his glasses out as well. "I just have a few questions I have to ask. You know, routine stuff."

"I remember," Cam says with a smile, reaching down to smooth Sam's hair back. "Shoot."

Charlie glances up at her from beneath his glasses and grins. He's going to like her. He can already tell. "Alright. Birth date?"

"February 3rd."

"Weight and height?"

"7 pounds, 3 ounces and 19 inches long."

"Any complications?"

"Nope."

"Developing normally?"

"As normally as possible in a house like ours."

Charlie snorts, scribbling his notes down in Sam's chart. "Appetite? Good, fair, poor?"

"Overzealous."

"Has he had his shots?"

"Every one they've come up with so far."

"Any concerns? Does he have any odd behaviors or things of that nature?"

Cam laughs, watching Sam wiggle around on the examination table and take his fist in and out of his mouth. "He's a baby. He's trying to eat his own extremities…"

Charlie glances up at her again and smiles, pushing his glasses up farther on the bridge of his nose. "Well, besides that?"

"No. Other than that, he's fine."

"Glad to hear it." Charlie makes his final notes in the chart before he closes it and sets it off to the side, wheeling himself back over to the table. "How is he with strangers?"

Cam smiles proudly as she lifts Sam up into a sitting position, letting him lean back against her stomach for support. "He's pretty good, actually. He's not going to try to bite you or anything if that's what you're worried about."

"Believe me. It wouldn't be the first time," Charlie laughs as he lifts up the hem of Sam's tee-shirt and places his stethoscope on his chest, giving the baby a sympathetic smile when he starts to whine.

"Yeah, I know its cold, buddy. Sorry." He moves it around to Sam's back, listening carefully as he takes a few breaths and trying to ignore his sudden close proximity to Cam. She uses coconut shampoo, he notices, when she shifts slightly and her hair tickles his nose. A floral perfume too, one that smells a little like something Valerie used to use. Sweet Pea, he thinks, or something like that anyway.

He clears his throat and pulls back, taking his stethoscope out of his ears. "He sounds good," he assures her, smoothing Sam's Red Sox shirt back out. "Boston fan, huh?"

"More of a Twins fan, actually," she says with a sheepish smile. "My friend bought that for Sam before he was born. The Red Sox are sort of a tradition in her family."

"I'm more of a football fan myself…"

Charlie stands up and carefully plucks Sam out of Cam's arms, laying him flat out on his back on the table again. "Alright, buddy. Bear with me." He gently takes a hold of Sam's arms and gives them a few gentle tugs and bends to test their flexibility, and to the kid's credit, he sits completely still right up until the very end before he lets out a loud wail.

Next to him, Cam flinches and Charlie frowns, quickly moving on to grab onto his legs to repeat the process. "I know, I know. Almost done."

By the time Charlie does finish, Sam's sobbing away and Cam looks near tears as well. He hates that, seeing both of them upset, so he quickly scoops the baby up in his arms, letting his head loll onto his shoulder as he continues to cry.

After a few soothing pats on the back and a ruffle of his hair, Sam gives one final sniffle before he quiets completely, making Charlie sigh in relief.

"You couldn't tell by looking at you," Cam says with a smile. "That you'd be good with kids, I mean."

"Given the choice, I'd pick kids over adults any day."

Cam laughs and accepts Sam from Charlie, getting him re-situated into his carrier. "So everything's okay?"

Charlie nods and places his pen back into his pocket, tucking Sam's file under his arm. "He looks good to me," he says as he reaches over to give Sam a gentle pat on the leg. "Will I be seeing you again?"

"Mm, I suppose so." Cam smiles as she lifts Sam's carrier, laughing at the gurgling noise that comes from inside it. "And I take it he says yes too. Looks like we'll be sticking with you."

"Then I'll see you in a month."

_Score._


End file.
